Across the U.S., people with disabilities experience sexual abuse and assault at disproportionately high rates compared to people without disabilities, and most cases of abuse against people with disabilities go unreported.
On This Page
- Key Sexual Abuse Statistics Involving People With Disabilities
- How Common is Sexual Abuse of People With Disabilities?
- Why Are People With Disabilities at Higher Risk of Sexual Abuse?
- Where Does Sexual Abuse of People With Disabilities Commonly Occur?
- Recognizing Signs of Abuse in People with Disabilities
- Children and adults with disabilities experience sexual assault and abuse at about three times the rate of people without disabilities.
- If you or a loved one has experienced sexual abuse as a person with a disability, you have legal rights and options for holding the responsible parties accountable.
Sexual abuse includes any non-consensual sexual activity or contact with vulnerable individuals, including people with disabilities. In fact, individuals with physical, sensory, cognitive, or emotional limitations are at a significantly higher risk of experiencing sexual violence than people without disabilities.
Tragically, much of the sexual abuse people with disabilities experience comes from caregivers, family members, and other people in positions of authority or power. At Helping Survivors, we help survivors and their families understand their legal rights and options after experiencing sexual abuse, connecting them with experienced, trauma-informed support.
Key Sexual Abuse Statistics Involving People With Disabilities
- People with disabilities are sexually assaulted at nearly three times the rate of people without disabilities.
- Approximately 39% of female rape victims had a disability at the time of the assault.
- Only 19% of rapes or sexual assaults against people with disabilities were reported to police from 2017 through 2019, compared to 36% for people without disabilities.
- Children with disabilities are three times more likely than children without disabilities to be victims of sexual abuse.
How Common is Sexual Abuse of People With Disabilities?
According to a 2019 study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, people with disabilities were victims of more than a quarter of all nonfatal violent crimes over the previous decade, despite only making up about 12% of the population. The rate of violent victimization against people with disabilities was almost four times the rate of people without disabilities, and people with cognitive disabilities specifically had the highest rate of violent victimization of all.
Sexual abuse of people with disabilities is frequently underreported or unreported, as many people with disabilities lack the resources or support to report abuse. Lack of reporting is particularly an issue for crimes against victims with cognitive disabilities, who are the most frequently abused.
Abuse of Women with Disabilities
Women with disabilities face especially high victimization rates, and research has shown that about 83% of women with disabilities will be sexually assaulted in their lives. About 80% of women with developmental disabilities have been sexually assaulted, and half of those have been sexually assaulted over 10 times.
Perpetrators of sexual abuse against women with disabilities are most often someone the victim already knows. Women with a disability are also more than twice as likely as women without disabilities to have a history of undesired sex with an intimate partner.
Abuse of Men with Disabilities
According to the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, men with disabilities were twice as likely as their counterparts without disabilities to experience sexual violence other than rape. The prevalence of lifetime sexual violent victimization was 14% among men with disabilities, compared to 4% among men without disabilities.
Abuse of Children with Disabilities
Research has repeatedly shown that children with disabilities experience higher abuse rates than their peers without disabilities. A 2023 study of nearly 9,000 cases of sexual victimization found that children with ADHD, speech disabilities, or intellectual disabilities were at the highest risk of victimization. Children with multiple disabilities were particularly vulnerable to experiencing child sexual abuse.
Why Are People With Disabilities at Higher Risk of Sexual Abuse?
People with disabilities face a significantly higher risk of sexual abuse for multiple reasons. These may include abuses of power from caretakers, inadequate safeguards or reporting mechanisms, discrimination, and more. Survivors of sexual abuse must be reassured that the abuse is never their fault.
Risk factors for sexual abuse among people with disabilities include the following:
- Dependence on Family, Caregivers, or other professionals
- Isolation from peers, family, or advocates
- Communication barriers, including a lack of access to interpreters, AAC devices, or accessible reporting channels
- Physical barriers to leaving unsafe situations
- Abusers who exploit assumptions that disabled survivors will not be believed
- Lack of inclusive consent and healthy-relationship education
- Institutional settings where staff may have unsupervised access
Where Does Sexual Abuse of People With Disabilities Commonly Occur?
To commit sexual abuse against a person with a disability, perpetrators often exploit their positions of power or authority. Many perpetrators of sexual abuse are known to their victims and use their authority to manipulate victims, restrict access to communication tools, or coerce the victim to permit the abuse. These perpetrators can include caregivers, healthcare providers, family members, or acquaintances.
Family Homes
About 90% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone known and trusted by the child or the child’s family members. In addition, paid caregivers are common abusers.
Group Homes
Nursing home, group home, and assisted living residents are at an increasingly higher risk of sexual abuse and assault by staff members or other residents. Victims’ cognitive or physical disabilities, as well as isolation from family members, make them particularly vulnerable to abuse.
Medical Facilities
Sexual abuse at medical facilities can include inappropriate touching, unnecessary exams, sexual comments, abuse under sedation, and exploitation of medical authority. People with disabilities, especially women and children, are particularly vulnerable to medical abuse.
Schools and Special Education Programs
In schools or special education programs, disabled students face a higher risk of sexual abuse than their peers without disabilities due to communication barriers and potential abuses of power by teachers, aides, coaches, or school staff.
Youth Residential Facilities
Children and youths with disabilities in foster care, juvenile detention, or other institutional systems face additional barriers to reporting abuse when it occurs. Moreover, if they can report it, their reports are frequently disregarded.
Religious Institutions
Clergy sexual abuse occurs when religious leaders exploit their positions of power and influence to groom children and sexually abuse them, often over extended periods of time. Children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to this type of abuse due to the potential isolation from clergy members and the position of authority that clergy members have.
Recognizing Signs of Abuse in People with Disabilities
People with disabilities have a heightened risk for sexual abuse by a caregiver, medical provider, or another person in a position of authority. Family members of those with disabilities should watch for signs of abuse in their loved ones and remain involved with their care as much as possible. Watch for behavioral changes, physical wounds, and other warning signs that may indicate abuse, and always believe a victim when they disclose abuse to you.
Survivors of sexual abuse and their families have legal rights and options for holding the responsible parties accountable. If you or a loved one has experienced sexual abuse, Helping Survivors is here for you. We can help you understand your rights, assist you in accessing support resources, and connect you with our legal partners.
